Preliminary Design and Dynamic Response of Multi-Purpose Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Platform: Part 1

Abstract

Floating offshore wind turbine foundations are based on platforms operated by the oil and gas industry. However, they are designed and optimized to meet the wind turbines’ operating criteria. Although Malaysia is considered a low-wind-speed country, there are some locations facing the South China Sea that are found to be feasible for wind energy harnessing. The average daily wind speed may reach up to 15 m/s. Therefore, designing a cost-effective platform that can operate in Malaysian waters which has less severe environmental conditions compared to the North Sea would be a prudent undertaking. In this study, a new design of a multi-purpose floating offshore wind turbine platform (Mocha-TLP) is presented. In addition, the dynamic response of the platform to wave loads was investigated using the Navier–Stokes code STAR CCM+ developed by CD-adapco. Moreover, free-oscillation tests were performed to determine the natural periods of the platform. Three approaching wave cases and two wave conditions (WC) were considered. The results show that the natural periods of the platforms were within the recommended range for pitch, roll, yaw, heave, sway and surge motions. The platform was stable in rotational motion within the three cases. However, it experienced a noticeable surge motion which was more critical with wave condition one (WC1) since the wavelength equalled the length of the structure. The dynamic response of the platform to wave loads wase minimal and within the operational requirements for wind turbines.